We support women writers living and working in the East of England * Winner of Outstanding Contribution to The Arts Award 2018; Shortlisted for the Women In Publishing New Venture Award 2015 & 2016, for Saboteur Best One-Off Event 2015 and Best Anthology 2014 *

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Thursday, 22 January 2015

Emma Jarvis of Hospital Arts at the
Norfolk And Norwich Hospital has asked Words And Women to help with finding
words and phrases which can be used in art work to transform the Hospital’s
Gynaecology Outpatients Department. As you can see from the photograph rooms in the
department currently look very businesslike and unwelcoming.

Gynaecology is the branch of physiology and medicine
which deals with the functions of and diseases specific to the reproductive system. The Gynaecology Outpatients
department offers a range of general and specialised Gynaecological
clinics.

There is no specific age range of those who visit the
Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital’s Gynaecology department. Those
that visit may be attending for both diagnosis and treatments.

It is generally understood that any ailment of the
reproduction organs can pose specific and intimate sensitivities which can vary
greatly from individual to individual. Visiting the department can be
quite stressful for patients therefore the hospital wishes to offer the best
caring environment to assist with reducing this stress.

The Artworks

Vicki and Jo of Print To The People will be working on
this project with Hospital Arts. All of Words And Women’s competition
flyers and posters are designed by Vicki, so we know the project is in safe and
talented hands! Vicki and Jo intend to create beautiful visual pieces on both
walls and ceiling panels which will be calming and relaxing, and will offer a
talking point in each room. They want to base their work around words and
phrases to which they’ll apply different print processes, adding colour and
other detailing. First of all though they need words and phrases. Ideally any
words of wisdom, empowering words for women by women, statements, Haikus, quotes, facts. Emma says they’re particularly
looking for words associated with positivity, reassurance, self-worth,
femininity, empowerment.

Please help this worthwhile project and send any words
or phrases which you think would be appropriate to wwhospitalarts@gmail.com.
This is a Words And Women email address; we will then forward your
contributions to Emma.

With many thanks for your help in advance.

Words And Women hopes to give you updates on this
project as it progresses.

Tuesday, 20 January 2015

Julianne Pachico grew up in Colombia and now lives in
Norwich, where she is completing her PhD in Creative and Critical Writing at
UEA. Her stories have been published or are forthcoming in Lighthouse Literary Journal, NewWriting.net
and Salt's Best British Short Stories.
Her pamphlet, The Tourists, is
available with Daunt Books. She is currently completing a linked collection set
in Colombia and working on a novel set in Mexico. Julianne’s’s story Kurt Cobain’s Son will appear in Words And Women: Two.

Bethany Settle has an MA in Creative Writing
(Prose Fiction) from the University of East Anglia. She remained in
Norwich, where she works at a library. Recently her work has appeared in Words
and Women: One and Extending Leylines. She is writer-in-residence at the Rumsey
Wells pub in Norwich. Bethany’s creative non-fiction piece For Dave Garner will appear in the anthology.

Avani
Shah was born in London and now lives in Norwich. She has a BA in English
Literature with Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. Her
influences include Jhumpa Lahiri, J.K. Rowling, and Mindy Kaling. Avani’s story
Mira/Meera will be included in our
anthology.

Thea Smiley lives in Suffolk with her husband
and three sons. She graduated from the UEA in 2012 with a first class Honours
Degree in English Literature. While at university, her short story Smoke was published in Workshop, an anthology of undergraduate
writing. Her first stage play was performed at the Cut Arts Centre, Halesworth,
in 2012 and, the following year, one of her stories was shortlisted for the
Bridport Prize. Currently, she is writing a play for Wonderful Beast Theatre
Company, which will be performed during the HighTide Festival in 2015. Thea’s short story Magazines will feature in Words And Women: Two.

Don’t forget
we will also be publishing the work arising from our About project in our
second anthology too. The profiles of Jenny Ayres, Lilie Ferrari, Tess Little
and Thea Smiley, the writers selected for this commission, can be found on the
dedicated blog page 'About comp'.

Many
congratulations to all the writers selected for our anthology. The anthology
will be launched on 8th March International Women’s Day at the
Fusion Digital Gallery, The Forum, Norwich. Details of the launch will be
posted on this blog in February.

Sunday, 18 January 2015

Anna Metcalfe was born in Holzwickede in 1987. Her stories have
been published in Tender Journal, Elbow Room,
Lighthouse and The Warwick Review. In 2014, she was shortlisted for The
Sunday Times Short Story Award. She lives in Norwich, where she is working on
her first collection. Anna’s story The Professor will appear in Words And Women: Two.

Marise Mitchell’s novel Bunny Slayer was published in
2008. Now she has two books on the go: one a
young adult fiction book set within a parallel universe and the other a collection of
musings on the menopause, as there is chick-lit and misery-lit but no menopause
-lit out there! Marise lives in Dereham with Ian and teaches ESOL locally. They relocated from Hertfordshire in
2013 and Marise says she is happy to be here in the holiday zone of her
childhood with the big skies above.
Marise’s story Now You See Me will be
included in our anthology.

Anthea
Morrison grew up in
Hertfordshire and has lived in London, Cambridge and New York, where she first
realised her passion for creative writing at the Gotham Writers’ Workshop. Now
back in Cambridge, she is an active member of the local Angles writing
workshop. Anthea has had stories published online, and is studying for an MA in
Creative Writing at Royal Holloway University. Anthea’s short story You Have
What You Want will be published in the anthology.

Patricia Mullin graduated from the MA Writing the Visual,
exploring the relationship between creative and critical writing and visual
culture at Norwich University for the Arts. In 2009 she was shortlisted for an
Arts Council Escalator Award. Her 2005 novel Gene Genie was republished as
an e–book in 2012. Patricia devised and led three short fiction courses for the
Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts; she is an associate tutor at the
University of East Anglia. Her novel Casting Shadows was commended in
the Yeovil International Literary prize 2014 and Patricia has just been awarded
an Arts Council grant to re-draft it. Patricia’sstory The Sitting was included in our inaugural anthology. Her short story The
Sirenwill feature in Words And Women: Two.

Radhika Oberoi is pursuing an MA in Creative Writing (Prose
Fiction) from the University of East Anglia. She is the recipient of an Asia
Bursary, supported by the UEA Guardian Masterclasses. She’s from India and
has moonlighted as a journalist for the Times of India, the Hindu Literary Review, and more recently, the New York Times blog, India Ink. Her day job back home required her to sit at a
desk and work in an advertising firm. Radhika’s work Reporter will feature in Words And Women: Two.

Friday, 16 January 2015

Hannah Harper was born in
Reading and studied literature at the University of Sheffield and creative
writing at the UEA. She’s worked as a receptionist, bookseller and copywriter
and has almost finished her first novel. Hannah’s story Camera Black will
appear in Words And Women: Two.

Caitlin Ingham was born in
1990 and grew up in London and then Yorkshire. She studied English Literature
at Queen Mary, University of London before spending two years working for a
literary agency. In September 2014, she moved to Norwich to complete the Masters
degree in Creative Writing (Prose) at UEA. Caitlin’s story The Bridge
will be included in our anthology.

Jane
Martin completed her
first full-length novel at the age of 13. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t find its
way into the bookshops! Since then she has written several plays and loads of
short pieces. In her mid-twenties, she abandoned creativity for academia
gaining a BA in Eng. Lit. and an MA in Children’s Lit, as well as A levels in
Psychology and Film Studies. She is now working with the Golden Egg Academy on
honing her second novel for children. Jane’s short story Fallingwill be published in the anthology.

Holly J. McDede claims to be a 10th generation King's Lynn resident in order to fit
in, but really, she moved to Norwich almost three years ago from California for
secret reasons. She runs a radio show called the Norfolk Storytelling
Project, where she explores hot topics such and new
zebra crossings, English banana farming, and new public toilet facilities in
Hailsham. Holly’s work The Game Of Love! will
feature in Words And Women: Two.

Wednesday, 14 January 2015

Louise Ells spent her
childhood beside the Ottawa River in northeastern Ontario, then combined random
jobs (chef, roofer, co-pilot on a submarine) with years of travel. She
has a Creative Writing MA from Bath Spa University and is now pursuing a PhD at
Anglia Ruskin University. Her thesis comprises Lacunae,
a collection of thematically linked short stories, and a critical commentary
examining Alice Munro’s revision strategies in Dear Life.
She’s recently had stories published in The Masters Review
and Harts & Minds. Louise’s short story Push
will appear in Words And Women: Two.

Abby
Erwin spent the
first eighteen years of her life in India, Germany and the Czech Republic. She
now lives in Norwich in a state of perpetual culture shock and is studying for
an MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia. Abby’s story The
Oversight will be published in the anthology.

Melissa Fu is currently
writing a collection of memoir-style pieces based on growing up in the Rocky
Mountains. In 2014, she started leading and facilitating Writing Circles,
small writing groups in Cambridgeshire designed to create community and
cultivate writers' voices. Melissa’s approach to teaching writing is
informed by her experiences in the classroom as well as her studies at Teachers
College, Columbia University, where she earned a Masters in English Education.
She welcomes writers of all levels to her workshops (melissafu.com) and also writes a weekly
personal blog on various topics (onetreebohemia.wordpress.com).
Melissa’s creative non-fiction piece Mount Sanitas
will be appear in the anthology.

Hannah Garrard is currently
studying for an MA in biography and creative non-fiction at the UEA, where she
also took her undergraduate degree in English Literature in 2005. She has worked
as a teacher in East Asia and West Africa, but Norwich is a place she always
seems to come back to. Her writing has appeared in the Guardian, New
Internationalist and Going Down Swinging.
Her piece of creative non-fiction Did You Eat Lunch?will feature in Words And Women: Two.

Tuesday, 13 January 2015

As promised we will be posting short biographies of
the writers whose work has been selected to appear alongside Lora Stimson’s
story – Cornflake Girl - in Words And Women’s second anthology.
Lora Stimson won first prize in our prose competition and if you want to find
out more about Lora see our competition page.

Biographies will be posted throughout this week and
next. Congratulations to all of the following writers for their success.

Tricia Abraham is
originally from the Caribbean but has lived in Cambridge for the past eleven
years. She has an MA in Creative Writing and initially wrote for stage and
film. She started to experiment with the short story format when she moved to
the U.K. and wanted to reminisce about her cultural memories. Her story The Outside Woman will feature in Words And Women: Two.

Melinda Appleby won Country
Living's Best Writer Award in 2011and saw this as a
chance to change direction and focus on her writing, exploring the nature and
culture of land. She gained an MA (Distinction) in Wild Writing (Essex
University) in 2014. She has an essay in Est, the new book of East Anglian
writing. Melinda has set up a creative writing programme, Sandlines,
with fellow Words & Women writer and artist, Lois Williams. Working with
the Brecklands Landscape Partnership, Sandlines will develop
workshops to encourage community writing in response to nature, and connect
people with their landscape memories. Melinda’s piece of creative
non-fiction Footprints On The Tideline will be
published in the anthology.

Sarah Baxter returned to Colchester, the town of her birth, a
decade ago after living in Australia and Scotland. Sarah has been successful
with her flash fictions, which have been published in the Bridport Prize
anthology, and online by InkTears
and Flash500. In 2014,
Sarah’s work-in-progress first novel was longlisted for the Crime Writers’
Association’s ‘Debut Dagger’
prize and went on to win A.M Heath’s ‘Criminal Lines’ competition. Sarah’smemoir The Girl I Left Behind was included in our inaugural anthology. Her
short story Lucky, Lucky Girlwill feature in Words And Women: Two.

Ceridwen Edwards (aka.
Satyagita) was born in Great Yarmouth in 1958. She's a practising Buddhist and writes to try and make
sense of the world. She wrote her first book when she was five, 'Wendy
and the Witch'. Her story The Duolitary
will be published in the anthology.

Friday, 9 January 2015

Congratulations to Lora Stimson who has won
Words And Women’s second writing competition with her wonderful short story
Cornflake Girl.

Lora studied creative writing at Norwich School of Art
& Design and UEA. She’s published stories and poems with Nasty Little
Press, Unthank Books, Ink,
Sweat and Tears and Streetcake Magazine.
In 2014 she was mentored by novelist Shelley Harris as part of the WoMentoring
scheme. Her first novel, about sex, grief and model villages, currently hides
in a drawer but she has higher hopes for her second novel, about twins, which
received an Arts Council England grant and is now in its final edit. Lora works
as a programme manager for Writers' Centre Norwich and sings with the bands
Moonshine Swing Seven and The Ferries. She lives in Norwich with her husband
and son.

Lora wins £600 and her winning story will appear in
our second anthology Words And Women: Two published by
Unthank Books, which will be launched on International Women’s Day, 8th
March, this year.

Our competition was open to women living in the East of England over the
age of 16. We asked for prose – fiction or non-fiction – under 2,200 words, and
are pleased to say we received 170 scripts from writers based all over the region.
The scripts, like last year, covered a variety of subjects: chance, fan
fiction, ill health, old age, growing-up, sex, monkeys, writing, mountains, the
menopause, Buddhism. They were set not just in this region but all over the
world . This year we received more fiction than non-fiction; also many of our
winners studied creative writing at university or are currently doing so.

Our guest judge for this year was Sarah Ridgard, author of Seldom Seen.
All entries were judged anonymously and the unveiling of the names of the
winning writers at the end of the process was very exciting! To quote Sarah: “There was such a diverse and dazzling array of
submissions for the competition, it was clear at the outset that the
task of judging the winners was going to be a really difficult one.
But as the reading got underway, it was a joy it to discover
those short stories or works of non
fiction that made me sit up a little straighter and
demanded to be read, re-read, and then read again. I'm delighted that
those writers will have the chance for their work to be published in the
anthology and read by many others.”

Lora is our worthy overall winner. There are also 21 other writers whose
scripts will be published in our anthology, along with the 4 pieces of work
which have been created for our About project.

Over the next few days Words And Women will be posting photos and short
biographies of all of our successful writers. Also Words And Women will be
busily editing and shaping the anthology for publication. More news about this will
be posted on our blog in due course.

Finally, Words And Women would like to say thank you to everybody who
entered the competition. The quality of work was outstanding and very
encouraging.

The winning entries:

FIRST PRIZE OF £600 and PUBLICATION IN WORDS AND WOMEN: TWO=

Lora Stimson for her short story Cornflake Girl. Lora lives in Norwich,
Norfolk.